Bank Donates $100,000 for Child Care Center

The first capital grant of $100,000 toward construction of a major child care center downtown was announced Wednesday by a group of downtown public and private employers.

The Alliance of Businesses for Childcare Development, a nonprofit group founded by the United Way, has received the grant from First Interstate Bank to build a center at 965 Venice Blvd. The center, when completed in June, 1987, is expected to accommodate 80 children, from infants to preschoolers. The center is designed primarily to provide reasonably priced child care for children of parents who work downtown.

Mayor Tom Bradley, who attended a press conference sponsored by the alliance, called the First Interstate Bank grant for the child care center “a fine example of corporate responsibility.” The center is the second of four such centers planned. A child care facility at First United Methodist Church downtown, which received an $82,000 donation from the alliance, is already operating.

Gretchen Anderson, executive director of the alliance, said the $100,000 grant is the first of what she hopes will be other major donations from downtown employers.